Ellie’s Bizarre Obsession: Watching Water Drops

At first I thought Ellie would wait in the bathroom while I showered because she loved me. I soon realized the truth: She didn’t love me as much as she loved watching the water droplets race down our glass shower doors.

It was a habit that caught on fast. All of a sudden, Ellie became quite insistent to sit in the bathroom while one of us showered. Some days, if the door was on the latch, she would fall into it to open the door. The days she wasn’t allowed in — or couldn’t tumble her way in — she would wait outside impatiently.

She’d then plop her little behind in the 6-inch space between our vanity and the tub. At that point, she’d crane her neck up to watch all of the drips. Sometimes she’d get so excited that she’d reach up in an attempt to grab one.

This was such an obsession that she’d sit in the bathroom long after the shower was over – sometimes an hour – just to watch the water run down the glass. Sometimes we’d keep the light on for her; sometimes we’d find her sitting in the dark watching the drips. It was so funny. It was like she had her own personal TV channel.

When Matt and I purchased our home in December, we noticed right away that our new shower didn’t have glass doors. I won’t lie — I was a little disappointed for her. We knew how much she loved watching the drips, and it really did make me sad to think that she wouldn’t be able to do that in the home where we may very well stay for the rest of her life.

Needless to say, life sans glass shower doors isn’t the same, but Ellie’s still a good sport. She still comes in during shower time, but now she’ll crouch under our vanity until we turn the shower off. At that point she pops her head out, ready for drips.

She’ll still watch the drips run down the tile and the curtain, but I know it’s not the same.

The other night, a storm came through Chicago — trees were blowing in all directions, and the rain was coming down hard. During the whole storm, Ellie sat perched on our cat condo, watching — and I just knew that she must have been really excited to watch some real drips once again.